


In a Basement Far, Far Away

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 11:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14260092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which the gang has a Star Wars movie marathon and tries to pull an all-nighter.





	In a Basement Far, Far Away

9:00 p.m. 

It was Friday night. Max, Lucas, Dustin, and Will had all followed Mike to his house at the conclusion of the school day. They wanted to see if they could finish all three Star Wars films in just one night. 

Max was making herself comfortable on the sofa in the basement as Will started the first film, Lucas searched for extra blankets, Mike brought down drinks, and Dustin ran upstairs to make popcorn. The rest of the house was silent as Ted had fallen asleep on his Lay-Z-Boy, Karen had taken Holly up to bed, and Nancy had gone to the Byers's house for who-knows-what. 

While Dustin was watching the popcorn spin around in the microwave, the doorbell rang. He peeked into the living room to see Ted Wheeler sound asleep, and decided that it would be best if he just let him be and answered the door himself. 

Just as he opened the door, the microwave beeped, signaling that the popcorn was ready. 

"They've already started the movie. Quickly, get downstairs!" he said, rushing El - who had just shown up at the door and had no idea what was going on - into the basement. 

Dustin quickly grabbed the popcorn bowl and darted down the stairs as fast as he could, spilling just a few pieces on the floor. 

"Did I miss anything?" he asked as he sat down on the floor in front of the sofa. 

"Just the opening crawl," Lucas replied. 

"El! Come sit over here," Mike said, gesturing to the pile of blankets sitting next to him. She happily obliged. 

"What is going on?" she asked quietly after everyone finally settled down. 

"We are watching Star Wars," he began, realizing that she probably hadn't heard of the films before. "It's a movie about people that live in a galaxy far away. Some of them have powers, like yours, that they use to fight the bad guys." 

El's attention moved to the TV as Darth Vader appeared on the screen. 

"Do the bad guys have powers too?" she asked. 

"Some of them do," he said. "But don't worry, everything turns out good in the end - you'll see." 

"Shut up!" Lucas said in a loud whisper. Mike had almost forgotten that his other friends were there as well. 

"Sorry," Mike said, rolling his eyes. He turned back to El. "I think you'll like this movie." 

El smiled before turning back to the TV. She rested her head on Mike's shoulder as she stared intently at the screen. 

11:00 p.m. 

As the credits began, the theme music blasted, startling El. Mike noticed and reached for her hand (mostly to comfort himself). Lucas quickly jumped up and started the next film. 

"Now it's time for the good stuff," he said as he sat down again. 

"You sound like a drug dealer," Dustin said, to which Lucas responded by leaning forward and smacking his shoulder. 

"I do not!" he said. 

The opening crawl quickly finished and the movie began. El struggled to keep her eyes open. Mike - who had been constantly glancing down at her - of course noticed, and put his arm around her to assure her it was okay to fall asleep. She brought herself closer to him and once again rested her head on his shoulder. With her fingers still interlaced with his, she slowly drifted off to sleep. 

Mike had trouble focusing on the film. He had been listening to El's breathing and envied how peaceful she sounded. He wanted to sleep as well, but he also wanted to stay awake all night with the rest of his friends, who - aside from Will - were all still fully awake and watching the film intently. 

He spent the first half of the film almost falling asleep, but soon was startled by his friends' enthusiastic reactions. But as Han Solo was about to be frozen in carbonite, he felt El sit up and rub her eyes. She had woken up a while before by Lucas and Dustin's bickering, but she had finally given up on sleeping and decided to watch the film. 

She watched as Princess Leia said her iconic "I love you" and Han Solo responded with "I know." She couldn't help but notice how sad the princess had looked during this exchange of words. 

"Mike," she said softly. 

He took a moment to sit up and look at her. If it had been anyone else's voice, he probably would have ignored it. 

"Yes?" 

"Why is she sad?" she asked. 

He looked to the TV so he could understand what she meant. 

"Well, because Han Solo is being taken away from her," he replied. 

She thought. She understood how that felt. But she still wondered about something. 

"Is she sad because he didn't say he loves her too?" she asked. 

She had heard a similar exchange of words several times before on her soap operas. She knew that "I know" was not the proper response. 

"I don't think so," Mike responded. 

"Why not?" El asked. 

"Because she already knew he loved her," he explained. "And he already knew she loved him. That's why he said he knows." 

El thought for a moment, then shrugged. She went back to resting her head on his shoulder and silently watching the film. 

Mike was dying on the inside. He felt as though he missed the perfect opportunity to tell her that he loved her, but he did not want to do that while his friends were around. So, he kept to himself. 

1:30 a.m. 

Mike and El had both fallen asleep. Will had been drawing something on the other side of the room for the past couple of hours. Max, Lucas, and Dustin were the only ones left still invested in the films. 

"Hey, do you know what would be funny?" Lucas said, looking over at Mike and El. 

"What, stalker?" Max asked. 

"We should put in the next movie, and turn the volume way up before we start it," he said. 

"Oh yeah, and then the music at the beginning will wake them both up!" Dustin said. "We've gotta do it!" 

Lucas grabbed the next film and turned the volume all the way up. Max worried that Mike might actually murder them. Will hadn't been paying any attention, so he couldn't disagree. 

Suddenly, the sound blasted, waking Mike, but not El (or Ted, who was still sound asleep in his Lay Z Boy). 

"What the hell?" Mike said, rubbing his eyes. 

"You snooze, you lose!" Dustin said, a bit too eagerly for almost 2:00 in the the morning. 

Mike glanced at El, who had stirred a bit, but was still asleep. 

"Turn that down," he simply stated, then went back to sleep. He promised himself that he would make El watch the last film with him another time. He wanted to see her reaction to the ewoks. 

And with that, Lucas turned the volume down and went back to the sofa. He and Dustin managed to stay awake all night just as they had planned, but Max and Will both fell asleep sometime during the last film.+ a 

Monday morning was going to be miserable for everyone except for Mike.


End file.
